Lasting impact.
Lasting impact.
Where healing starts: Child and Adolescent Counseling Specialization
By the age of 16, more than two thirds of children report experiencing a traumatic event.1 Even when not faced with a distinctly stressful experience, children, tweens and teens can be seriously impacted by the various challenges that are a part of growing up. From causing difficulty building healthy relationships to increasing the potential to develop chronic health issues and addiction later in life,2 childhood trauma can be life-altering. Fortunately, research shows that interventions with trauma-informed approaches such as those with a licensed professional counselor can make a significant impact on the lives of children struggling with stress and trauma.3 Become a trusted part of a child's support network when you earn your online Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) with a specialization in child and adolescent counseling.
Your education. Their healing journey.
Marquette University offers a child and adolescent specialization for our online counseling master's students because we know how critical it is to have professionals trained specifically to help this vulnerable population.
When you earn your online child and adolescent clinical mental health counseling degree from Marquette, you'll have the opportunity to explore the unique challenges faced by younger clients and enhance your counseling skills with contemporary techniques for working with adolescents.
Why is child and adolescent counseling important?
Make your mark in mental health care
Marquette University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program delivers an immersive online experience that combines counseling theory with contemporary therapeutic techniques and practical insights from expert faculty counselors. Pair your drive to serve with practical skills and diverse clinical experiences, ensuring you're ready to make a significant impact.
Discover how Marquette's social-justice focused course work and flexible online format can prepare you for a rewarding career in mental health.
Take the first step
A holistic approach to mental health counseling
The online counseling master's degree with a child and adolescent specialization will help you prepare to provide well-rounded care for your young clients. Mental health counselors working with youth must be prepared to face a host of challenges not present with adult clients. From communicating with parents and caregivers to helping children express their emotions and needs constructively, there are many special aspects to this type of care.
This master's degree in counseling specialization, like all of Marquette's degree programs, is designed with a community focus and aims to instill students with a mission to advocate for the greater good.
Online master’s in child and adolescent counseling curriculum
All online counseling master's students will complete 20 courses (60 credit hours) total.
Specializing students will complete:
- 15 core counseling courses (45 credit hours) alongside general track students
- 1 child and adolescent counseling specialization course (3 credit hours)
- 1 elective (3 credit hours)
- 1 practicum course (3 credit hours) focused on child and adolescent development
- 2 internship courses (3 credit hours each) focused on child and adolescent development
Specialization course:
Counseling with Children and Adolescents (3 Credit Hours)
This course is designed to expand upon the experiences gathered from prior course work with a focus on children, youth and adolescents. The primary goal of this course is to expose clinical mental health counseling students through both didactic and experiential activities to counseling with a child or adolescent population. This is a course designed to give students the opportunity to provide service, experience collaboration and learn from young people to apply to the counseling context. Students will have an opportunity to practice working with youth and learn a variety of empirically supported treatments, gaining knowledge and resources for how to implement evidence-based practice and a strength-based approach with children and adolescents.
Preparing for a career in youth counseling
As a student in Marquette's online counseling master's program, you will take 15 core courses to build a powerful foundation of assessment and diagnosis skills and counseling techniques along with a specialization course in youth counseling and one additional elective course. You will also complete one practicum and two internship courses focusing on child and adolescent counseling where you can gain confidence as a counselor through hands-on experiences.
Our students have had practicum and internship experiences at sites including:
- Children’s Hospital Wisconsin
- Rogers Hospital
- Behavior Clinic at Penfield Children's Center
- Sixteenth Street Community Health Center
Individual growth.
Collective change.
Admissions Deadlines
- Retrieved on April 24, 2025, from samhsa.gov/child-trauma/understanding-child-trauma
- Retrieved on April 24, 2025, from nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects
- Retrieved on April 24, 2025, from pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8900961
- Retrieved on April 24, 2025, from mchb.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/mchb/data-research/nsch-data-brief-adolescent-mental-behavioral-health-2023.pdf